POTATO MARKET UNSTABLE

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 726, 27 July 1929, Page 12

POTATO MARKET UNSTABLE

POSITION IN CANTERBURY CHRISTCHURCH, Friday. The potato market has fluctuated remarkably since the mid-week. On Tuesday afternoon values for August-Septem-ber delivery were £8 10s a ton. On Wednesday afternoon advice was received from Sydney that it was not proposed to make any alterations in the regulations prohibiting the importation of New Zealand potatoes, and within an hour or two values dropped to £7 10s a ton. Next morning the market steadied and today values recovered to £S. This afternoon they had settled at £8 2s 3d. July potatoes were not affected by the movements for later months. They remained at £8 2s 6d f.0.b., s.i., to £8 ss, and are now £8 to £8 2s 6d. At the peak of the mid-week rise, on Wednesday morning, farmers were being paid for prompt delivery Tip to £7 a ton, on trucks, £7 5s being reported in one or two cases. At these figures growers showed more disposition to sell, and at the lower price of £6 15s this disposition was not checked. The wet weather delayed the departure of the Kaiwarra from last night until tomorrow, her cargo being increased as a result to a total of about 6,000 sacks, in addition to 1,400 from Timaru. Potatoes aboard her have been sold freely at £8 ss. The boar for the end of the month, the Waipiata, is due to load at Lyttelton on Tuesday or Wednesday. Little else of interest is occurring in the market. There has been a fair retail business in seeds, but mostly in small parcels. A little business has been done in fowl wheat at 5s 7Jd to 5s Bd, there being a suggestion of an improvement. Milling wheat is unchanged. CHICAGO WHEAT MARKET (Australian and N.Z. Press Association) Reed. 9.5 a.m. CHICAGO, Friday. Wheat.—July, 1 dollar 42 cents a bushel; September, 1 dollar 45 7-8 cents; December, 1 dollar 53 cents.